The noose around Fortress Maximus' neck tightens. Will the Decepticon 2nd fleet led by mighty Scorponok finally subjugate their old nemesis? And if they do, what will be the fate of the Autobot resistance?

Beautiful and violent, the unfettered evolution of countless centuries has produced a world that is both attractive to the eye and deadly to the touch. Even Cybertronians are not safe here.

A nearby radiation belt has caused more than one ship to lose its telemetric headings. The refugees of those ships are often greeted by creatures worthy of one of Kup's war stories, such as the reclusive Arachnosaur or the mighty Chaosteros, a jungle-dwelling behemoth which sees everything that moves as prey, no matter how indigestible. Few live to tell the tale, as Kup has.

Wheelie stood on his porch, high above the forest floor. He built it this way because of the many Dangers of the forest floor. Some creatures in the bizarre world camouflage themselves in better ways then a Chameleon, they literally change their skin to look exactly what it looks like behind them with only very small discrepancies. This fact alone makes them a lethal at nighttime.

Wheelie needed his energy reserves up again. His batteries were lower than he needed to survive in this environment.

Wheelie walked over to his recharge station that he used out of some solar panels and batteries that he found in the wreckage of the ship that brought him here and in an old abandoned Autobot Base a few kliks from his home. It was too structurally unstable, and a bad placement for a fort if you knew the planet like Wheelie did.

Wheelie pulled out a cord that he connected to the battery and to him.

Feeling refreshed Wheelie stated, "Wheelie used to feel like poo, now Wheelie feels good as new!"

Wheelie sat down in a makeshift chair that he made and began to look through some data packets that he found in the abandoned base. Dismal stories. It was like reading a horror story.

Mindwipe had been on the verge of engaging Cipher in an interesting discussion regarding the variety of species that they had managed to track thus far and how, indeed, not all of them seemed to be particularly indigenous to this planet--unique though it certainly was.

Hungrr's barking response quickly put an end to that little diversion in Mindwipe's mind. Hungrr's limited approval of his existence was the only thing keeping him, well, existing at the moment. The hypnotist was not keen to do anything that might even conceivably endanger that status.

He had felt more than one tremor shake the ship on the way down, causing him to reach for the walls to find something to brace himself against.

"Capable warriors all, your men. I hope they are capable pilots as well."

Wheelie sighed as he finished his datapacket. It was the third time he had read that one in particular, among a stack of datapackets he had chosen this one. It was the only entertaining one of the bunch, as it was filled with old war stories. Dark, but entertaining nevertheless.

Wheelie heard something in the jungle: It was unrest. Usually things get scared over predators such as Chaosterous, but this was something different. He hadn't heard this sound ever since he landed on LV-117, it was the chatter of the beasts and the birds, even the trees seemed to be uneasy.

Something was new and something was happening.

"Forest is as busy like a bee, Wheelie needs to take a look see!" Wheelie stated as he made his was back out on the porch.

Pocketing his Datapacket, he began to search the horizon for anything that would bet the cause of the unrest.

Cipher stepped back slightly when Hun-Grrr addressed him and as a scribe no less. The scientist bit his tongue before he even tried to correct the Terrorcon Commander as to what his specialty is. Instead, Cipher remained silent as Hun-Grr continued with his response. So it was possible. There was a chance that most of the creatures that inhabited LV-117 were actually genetically created. But who created was something that Cipher just had to learn.

It was then that the small shuttle was rocked, possibly from turbulence due to entering the planet’s atmosphere, or from the radiation belt that surrounded the planet. It didn’t matter what it was from, all Cipher wanted now was to get off so he could feel solid ground beneath his feet.

The scientist followed Mindwipe’s actions and reached out for the walls of the shuttle in order to stabilize himself. Bracing himself Cipher turned his attention back to Mindwipe as the hypnotist addressed Hun-Grrr.

“Heh. I…I second that."

Bridge

The shuttle was rocked almost violently as it penetrated the radiation belt and once again when it finally emerged from the other side. Rippersnapper gripped the controls as he tried to keep the shuttle at a specified angle in order to make it through the belt. Once on the other side, the terrorist relaxed slightly, but not for as long as he wanted.Several nanokliks later Rippersnapper had to increase his grip on the controls once more as he guided the shuttle through the atmosphere. A few shaky moments passed before the turbulence finally subsided and the ship stabilized.

Rippersnapper loosened his grip on the controls and quickly initiated the cloaking device effectively masking the ship’s signature and hiding it from potential threats. The terrorist guided the ship toward what seemed to be a secluded clearing surrounded by deep rock outcroppings.

Once he locked onto his intended landing location, Rippersnapper opened a comm link with Hun-Grrr.

>>"I’ve engaged the ship’s cloaking device and I’ve located a secluded clearing. We’ll be landing in 2 kliks."<<

The ride from the Semper Tyrannis to LV-117 had been nowhere near comfortable one. Not that it had really bothered Hun-Grrr. He had survived enough crashes to care about such minor inconveniences. Most Decepticons were equipped with limited flight ability anyhow - all five Terrorcons certainly were. Rippersnapper was not too bad of a pilot either, particularly when he was focused on the task instead of thinking ways to murder an organic whose scent his olfactory sensors had detected. The fact that the terrorist had managed to activate the dropship's camoflauge sub-systems without a direct order to do so only increased his worth in the eyes of Hun-Grrr.

When Rippersnapper finally landed the dropship, Hun-Grrr stood up to his full height and turned to face his Terrorcons. "Out! Secure the perimeter!"

While Hun-Grrr was a stranger to the concept of fear, he was no mental midget either. Despite at times acting like he was nothing more than a savage animal, he possessed surprisingly keen intellect - something that many of his enemies had found out in very final manner. It was better to use his merry band of misfits to gauge the potential threats outside rather than endanger himself. After all, he was irreplaceable unlike his Terrorcons. In an addition of the tactical side of keeping the highest ranking member of the team from accidentally stumbling to the firing line, sending out his troops also served to give them a purpose. With something to do, they'd be less likely to fight each other. And truth to be told, that was the real reason for his command, for Hun-Grrr was more than ready to take on any challenge presented to him. In fact, he often took the battlefield by force without a further thought about anyone's well-being. This time though, he had Cipher and Mindwipe to keep alive and it changed everything.

"Plenty of electromagnetic radiation here Mindwipe. Not fatal amounts but enough to cause cerebral decay if our stay gets prolonged. We might be forced to craft synthetic flesh coatings to cope with the radiation if it gets stronger." Hun-Grrr addressed the hypnotist, "It is almost as if this place was planned to keep our kind out. Makes me want to see even more whatever remains hidden here."

With those words the psychotic Terrorcon quickly made his way to the shuttle door. The door did not open enough for him so he kicked the last bit of it to open quicker. This door would not be getting in the way of the carnage he so desired.

He made his way and transformed into his alt mode. He made use of its amazing leaping ability to leap on top of one of the rocky outcroppings. He screeched out in a threatening manner and carefully watched for victims.

From the bridge Rippersnapper quickly powered down the shuttle’s engines, after all what use would a cloaking device be if someone could hear its hum. Besides, they needed to conserve as much fuel as possible. Once the engines were powered down the terrorist quickly locked the controls so that only he or Hun-Grrr could actually pilot the ship if the need to abandon the planet arose. He also didn't want anything even half sentient to break in to the shuttle and make way with their only means of escape.

Rippersnapper made his way from the bridge to the rear of the shuttle once everything was secure and met with the other Terrorcons and their two hangers on. He had just missed Hun-Grrr’s order to secure the perimeter, but with the movement of his other teammates it only made sense that that would be their next move.

Without another thought Rippersnapper drew his cyclone gun and made his way down the ramp and onto the planet’s surface. The white and blue ‘Con watched as Cutthroat leapt along the ground until he came to a rocky outcropping where he jumped up and took up a sentry position. At the same time the shock trooper let out a threatening screech.

Shaking his head Rippersnapper moved away from the shuttle in a westerly direction, his scanners and sensors on full alert. If something organic that inhabited this planet were to pop its head out, Rippersnapper would be more than ready to tear it off its shoulders.____

Once the shuttle was safely on the ground, Cipher moved away from the wall he had been using as a brace and made his way to the pile of equipment he had brought on board. Due to the turbulence the items were strewn about, but they were mercifully undamaged.

The scientist scooped up what he could and moved to Mindwipe’s side. Cipher separated the equipment into two categories and motioned for the hypnotist to grab one of the smaller piles. At the same time Cipher listened to everything the Terrorcon Commander had to say about the planet’s atmosphere. It didn’t sound too hospitable especially since long term exposure to the electromagnetic radiation could cause cerebral decay.

Cipher bit his bottom lip at the explanations, especially the point about the cerebral decay. After all he was only useful to this team because of his superior mind, if he were to lose that part of himself; they would surely leave him here to rot.

“Ssso, uh, how about we craft those synthetic coatings before we set foot on this forsaken planet? I mean if there is a possibility of such danger wouldn’t it be prudent to be safe rather than sorry?"

The scientist glanced to Mindwipe in hopes the hypnotist would agree with him.

Blot stood, still in his alternate lumbering monster mode, towering over Cipher and Mindwipe. Ever since Hun-Grrr had ordered him to guard them, Blot had been keeping at their heels, never further away than a few paces. It must have been quite an inconvenient experience for the two scientist-types, a stinking, fluid-dripping bulk of metal menace trailing them like a bad omen.

Though, to Blot it hardly mattered. He had been given orders by the only individual deserving his loyalty and Blot would see to those orders being carried out. The allowed use of lethal force gave him satisfaction, too. He wouldn't have to restrain himself if anyone was foolish enough to attack him or his charges.

He didn't particularly understand what all the talk of radiation and protective coating was about but cared little. Not many things, save for Megatron and his immediate lieutenants, had the power to even dent any of the Terrorcons, so why should he bother?

The small optic units of his monster form flickered as he regarded Cipher and Mindwipe. Wherever they would go, Blot will follow.

Mindwipe was pleasantly surprised at the fact that they had managed to land, still functional. Given what he had seen of this world already, it was clear that even something as routine as that would be a chore here. It did not exactly bode well for the ease in which they would accomplish everything else. But, as with Hungrr, that only served to increase Mindwipe's curiosity all the more.

As the shuttle bay doors opened and this strange, new location revealed itself to them all for the first time, Mindwipe had to admit that he had never seen anything quite like it. Even as he had grabbed the smaller pile of equipment that Cipher had indicated, his optics were locked on the environs outside.

It was hard to see anything past the immense grove of trees and other native flora that they had landed in the midst of, or the jagged, rocky outcroppings such as the one Cutthroat had already found. This was clearly a planet where nature ruled. Civilization had little chance of evolving. There was nothing civilized about this world. Except for that one edifice that they had discovered, which made it all the more intriguing.

Mindwipe wanted to get out and see this world firsthand. Just standing here looking at it, he was almost in the midst of a religious experience, similar to his meditations back on Cybertron. That and the idea of polluting his body with organic anything was just short of physically revolting. Even so, if Hungrr's words were true, Mindwipe could certainly not afford any damage to his mind. Not with this crowd.

"Perhaps. Perhaps it is the wisest course," Mindwipe said, setting his pile of equipment down next to the small console. He initiated the ship's scanners and began pulling up the chemical compositions of various native flesh. After all, what better source to draw a synthetic from?

"I am...hmm...not exactly certain how this technology is supposed to work. I have never used it before."

Wheelie's optics scanned the horizon for the source of the disturbance, when suddenly a very old but familiar sight: a Shuttle!

Wheelie literally jumped for joy, his faceplate present with a huge smile.

"So long in this Jungle Wheelie has braved, Wheelie so happy that he has been saved!" Wheelie cried as he jogged out to his porch, pulled out his Slingshot and proceeded to place it on a zip-line.

He kicked off from the porch and hung from his Slingshot, speeding though the trees on the zip-line. He sped down the zip-line, wind whirling about his Audio Receptors, finally, he reached the bottom and quickly transformed into his Cybertronian Sports Car and began to speed through the Jungle floor, almost not caring about what noise he made. The Shuttle must be here for him! It must be!

"Wheelie thought he was here to stay, but now it must be Wheelie's day!" Wheelie cried out some more, driving through the jungle was only driving his enthusiasm.

Still standing at the top of the ramp, Cipher looked out on the landscape that awaited them. The scientist was not enthusiastic about heading out into the vast wilderness. The trees alone were too dense to see past the trunks. The rock that Cutthroat was now perched on was too large to even see over. The location they were now in was possibly the most secluded on this planet, but Cipher would have to see the rest of the world before that assumption could be deemed definitive.

At the sound of Mindwipe’s voice, Cipher turned around to see the hypnotist set the equipment down next to the console and began to scroll through the native creatures in order to find a suitable synthetic form. At the same time the scientist took up a position next to Mindwipe and looked intently at the available forms.

“Wait. There. I’ll be able to utilize that."

On the screen was some sort of feathered creature. According to the information on the terminal the creature was nearly his height, which meant that the synthetic applications would form over his frame easily.

He then looked to Mindwipe and gestured with his chin so that he may be allowed to enter the information into the nearby chamber’s programming.

“Choose one and download the information to the chamber. From there the nanites will do the rest."

After his explanation Cipher moved to the chamber and quickly entered. The cycle would not take long at all, but the sooner he has encased the sooner he could ensure his mind was safe.

****Rippersnapper had finished walking the perimeter of their landing site to the west when he came upon his starting point. The terrorist took one last quick look around as he opened up a communication link with Hun-Grrr.

>>"Commander, I’ve finished securing the perimeter to the west of the shuttle. I saw no native fauna in the immediate area. Shall I make my way back?"<<

Rippersnapper was relieved that he had not come across any of the creatures that inhabited this dirt ball of a planet. Just seeing one would cause him to fly into a homicidal furry. Something that would not bode well for the group if he was not kept under control.

While Hun-Grrr did not relish on the idea of coating himself with synthetic flesh, he had done it before and would do it again as many times he needed if the missions he took part in so required. The revolting organic smell was a small price to pay if one avoided the effects of harmful radiation that way. That did mean however that there was one particular issue to be taken care of before anyone managed to acquire coat themselves with synthetic flesh. Unfortunately for the Terrorcon commander, Cipher's eagerness to protect his cerebral mass forced Hun-Grrr on the move on with the said objective with far greater pace he would have preferred. Had Cipher not slipped into the CR chamber for the synthetic flesh crafting process, the annoyed snarl on Hun-Grrr's face would probably have stopped the scientist's fuel pump.

"Blot. Stay."

Leaving Blot to guard both Cipher and Mindwipe, Hun-Grrr stepped out of the dropship and headed straight towards the direction where Rippersnapper's energy signature appeared on his sensor grid. As he did so, his internal sensory suite began registering subtle changes in the amount of the radiation he was subjected to correlating with the local topography. If the radiation changes on such of a confined zone were this great, the call to protect themselves against possibly growing radiation levels was clearly the logical choice to make. How Mindwipe had missed such an important detail when making the initial scans of this planet from the safety of the Semper Tyrannis was mind boggling. Of course, it was possible that the radiation belt around the planet had distorted the readings too much to determine whether harmful radiation towards cybernetic life was present on this world. Indeed, whoever was behind the facility they were to enter, had been a demented genius.

An incoming transmission from Rippersnapper brought Hun-Grrr's focus back to the task at hand. Instead of continuing towards the terrorist, he stopped on his tracks and began making observations of his own. As far as the large Terrorcon was concerned, he would wait for Rippersnapper to come to him rather than burning his own precious energon in order to catch up with one of his troopers. A transmission and minor delay in taking care of business would do for now.

>>"Good. Return now!"<< Perhaps his reply to Rippersnapper had been too eager. But then again, his Terrorcons were used on Hun-Grrr's greed fueled impatience so it was likely that Rippersnapper would not expect what was to happen. That did not remove the fact that this was not going to be the first time Hun-Grrr was about to remove Rippersnapper's olfactory sensors from the play to allow the Terrorcons to perform their duties on this mission.

The Xenerian Avious from the LV-117 has long been known for its grace and beauty. Similar in look to the earthern bird known as a crane it has long been sought after by collectors of exotic animals for its beautiful, multicolored feathers and the grace that the animal moved with. Its flocks always moved in perfect synchronization and it has been said that the flight of these birds would bring even the hardest soul to tears. Most would consider it an extraordinary privileged for a flock of these rare birds to fly over the Decepticon ship as they made their way to the southern portion of the planet. Those same individuals would likely always feel great disgust as a stream of fire passed through the center of the formation causing the surrounding birds to burst into flames.

Down bellow Cutthroat laughed and jumped up and down at the sight of the destruction of this flock. Nothing could be funnier to him than watching the remains of these poor creatures burn to ash as they fell around him.

"That was too funny! Hey wait, there are still some left!" yelled the cruel Decepticons as he saw the birds that were further away from the center had survived and were now making a confused dash for safety. "Your not getting away from me!"

With a vicious cry Cutthroat jumped high into the air and caught a gust of wind. He moved quickly in pursuit of the birds looking to bathe his talons and claws in their blood.

Once Rippersnapper had cut the comm line to Hun-Grrr, the terrorist took a good look at his current surroundings. The area was covered in organic life, granted none of it was actually able to move on its own accord, but just being near it caused Rippersnapper’s lip components to curl in to an angry sneer.

The sound of the terrorist’s cyclone gun powering up broke through the silence that had surrounded the area. Just as he was about to fire through the flora that was all around him, his comm line crackled to life; on the other end his Commander.

Letting out a grunt of disappointment, Rippersnapper holstered his weapon and beagn to make his way back to the dropship to the east. He plowed through the wooded area, stomping down trees with a smirk plastered on his face.

Crunching down the last tree that lined the edge of the wooded area, Rippersnapper emerged and took a long look around until his optics set on Hun-Grrr. The slag? He tilted his head slightly to one side as he was not expecting to come across his Commander until he had actually reached the dropship itself.

Hun-Grrr gave only a brief look towards Rippersnapper as the terrorist appeared from woods. The attention of the hulking Terrorcon commander appeared to be focused on something far away in the horizon rather than anything in his immediate surroundings. Whatever Hun-Grrr was looking at though, was not Cutthroat and the flock of avians the shock trooper had assaulted.

Having said that, Hun-Grrr turned to return to the dropship. He did not hurry though, thus his speed allowed Rippersnapper to quickly catch up with him. Just as Rippersnapper was about to move next to Hun-Grrr, the Terrorcon commander made a sudden turn and punched Rippersnapper hard into his midsection - not hard enough to send the smaller Decepticon flying but hard enough to make Rippersnapper topple over in the sudden pain. There was no way Rippersnapper would allow anyone to mess with his head if he could fight against it - thus Hun-Grrr had little other options than doing this all by force.

Given that particularly Rippersnapper and Blot had their heads sunk in between their shoulders, delivering a strike that would knock them out was far more difficult than with most Cybertronians. Especially for someone with as big hands as Hun-Grrr got. However, with Rippersnapper toppled over, the back of his head far easier to reach than normally. As Hun-Grrr could not fit his fist into the crevice where Rippersnapper's head was located in - the former gladiator struck Rippersnapper with a karate chop to the back of his head instead. As tough as Rippersnapper was, Hun-Grrr's strength was on far different level. One chop had been all it took for the terrorist to go limp and collapse to the ground.

With Rippersnapper lying unconscious on the ground, Hun-Grrr sat on the back of the smaller Terrorcon and brought his taloned digits carefully against a small panel on the back of Rippersnapper's cranium. Carefully the large Terrorcon unscrewed the panel open with his talon, revealing a simple killswitch hidden under it. Moving the switch to offline position with the tip of his talon, Hun-Grrr placed the panel back and screwed it tightly in place. As Hun-Grrr got up, he couldn't but wonder how many times it had taken until he had had enough of the trouble Rippersnapper's hate towards organic smell had brought him. He wasn't certain to be honest, Hun-Grrr wasn't a mech that spent his time labeling and carefully maintaining his memory banks. Particularly as he often acted through sheer impulses rather than rational thinking. The truth was that at some point he had simply had enough and had installed a killswitch to Rippersnapper's head that allowed him to disengage the terrorist's olfactory sensors manually. For the remainder of the mission, Rippersnapper would have to go on without his sense of smell. For the other members of the exploration team it was going to be a blessing rather than a curse though.

Leaving Rippersnapper to recover, Hun-Grrr headed out back to the dropship and began entering the required information to the dropship's computer for it to be ready to craft synthetic flesh coating for him and his Terrorcons. As Cipher finally removed himself from the CR chamber along with his new coating, Hun-Grrr entered it himself and allowed the process to begin. Roughly after spending three kliks in the chamber, the Terrorcon stepped out of it - having received his preferred synthetic flesh coating of an Algean two-headed razor beast. Making a gesture for Blot to get his own coating crafted, Hun-Grrr opened comm-link to his minions still outside the shuttle.

>>"Sinnertwin, Cutthroat and Rippersnapper! Report back to the dropship!"<<

Cipher had exited the CR chamber just in time to see Hun-Grrr stomping back into the dropship and make for the now empty device. The scientist had no desire to be trampled so he quickly moved away from the chamber to let the Terrorcon Commander pass without hindrance.

After a cursory exam of his new covering, Cipher looked back to Mindwipe who was still looking through the list of native fauna to choose from.

“This is absolutely disgusting, not to mention demeaning."

Cipher lifted his arms and shook his head as he proceeded to produce a gagging sound from deep within his vocalizer. The synthetic covering would not hinder his flight capabilities, but still, to be seen in it was utterly revolting.

After a moment, Cipher stopped examining himself and looked back to the CR chamber where Hun-Grrr was now encased. His optics widened in realization. Quickly he turned to Mindwipe, fear written all over his face.

“I just remembered. If Rippersnapper gets one sniff from these coatings we are as good as dead! What are we going to do? He’s probably on his way back right now; possibly covered in the fluids of the local creatures inhabiting this Primus forsaken planet!"

Western Perimeter

With a groan and a low grunt Rippersnapper slowly got back up on his feet and took a quick look around to gauge whether he would be attacked once more by his Commander. When he was satisfied that Hun-Grrr was nowhere to be seen the terrorist brought one clawed hand up to the back of his cranial unit where he gently rubbed.

“What the slag was that all about," he mumbled.

Rippersnapper’s attention was brought out of his own musings when he received a comm. form the Commander. The white and blue mech let out a low growl before he took off at a jog got make it back to the dropship.

Wheelie sped as fast as he could toward the shuttle he saw land. He knew that someone would come for him, he knew it! He turned a sharp 90 degree angle around a tree, who's fungus tried to snag his tires and pull him beneath the tree for nutrients, but his sheer speed proved to be faster than the plant and he lived to see another day.

He transformed and slid to a stop at a Ravine in front of him. He began to make his way across the bridge that he crafted to get across this very Ravine to travel from his crash-site to his abode. The bridge creaked and groaned, the rope was straining in some areas and it was unwise for more than one to take the bridge at one time. The bridge swayed in the wind, the few yards ahead of him swirling into a dizzying display of a waving wooden mass. The Ravine was always windy and unsafe, as the Arachnosaurs' breeding grounds were below him, and as territorial as they are, it was worth it to build the bridge instead of traversing the landscape below him.

"Wheelie needs to be big, brave and tall, as he doesn't want to fall!" Wheelie mumbled to himself as he reached the end of the bridge.

He finally made it to the other side of the Ravine and Transformed once again, speeding off into the distance.

He sped into a clearing where he knew it had to have landed! It was the only clearing for several Megamiles! He transformed and ran up to the nearest mech in the form of Sinnertwin and gave him a great big hug.

"Wheelie thought he was done for, but he is so happy he was come for!" Wheelie said to express his thanks for the coming of those he thought were there to save him.

He was wrong.

Last edited by #Sideways# on Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

Mindwipe had been actively trying not to think about scenarios such as the one that Cipher had offered up. He had found a suitable organic covering, but now he was even more loathe to use it than he had been originally. They might as well just serve themselves up to the more animalistic members of this team with all the trimmings. This mission was clearly headed in that direction.

More animalistic? Mindwipe thought, chiding himself. Each one of them is fit to be caged and studied in a zoo.

Mindwipe had backed away when Hungrr seemed to leap on one of his own men. The confrontation seemed to end as quickly as it began, with Hungrr abandoning his assault on Rippersnapper and heading in to the small dropship's CR chamber.

My god, they're going to devour each other first....

Practically clinging to the shuttle wall behind him, Mindwipe had edged around the confrontation as best he could, grabbing the supplies from earlier and following after Cipher, poking the outer coating on the other mech's arm. Primus, this was so disgusting.

"We run for our lives," Mindwipe said in a hushed tone, offering up the only plausible alternative he could think of if things really turned sour on this mission. "But in the interim, we will simply have to put our trust in Hungrr's protection."

Speaking of the Terrorcon commander, Mindwipe supposed he would have to get in to the chamber next--a process he was not looking forward to in the slightest. If the other Terrorcons preferred to go first, he was more than happy to let them, but the majority of them seemed to have not returned yet from their preliminary scouting.

((OOC-Doing a little coverage post to keep Sinnertwin moving.))

Western Perimeter

No sooner had the shuttle landed than Sinnertwin had transformed and bounded off in to the wilderness, following scents and allowing his visuals to take in everything he could about the new location. He could feel something weird occurring within his internal systems, but it was hardly noticeable. Only Hungrr's transmission to call them back to the shuttle put any sort of pause in the Terrorcon's step.

One of the Terrorcon's heads lifted in to the air, looking around as the other continued to gather scents, trails...anything that would be useful later.

It was then that Sinnertwin detected something else. Something familiar--but also very much not. That it coincided with Hungrr's command was fortunate, otherwise he might not have been able to overcome the desire to pursue it. Whatever it was, it was heading in the same direction as where the remainder of the Decepticons were.

"Delicioussss," Sinnertwin growled, before doubling back in the same direction that he had come.

The strange scent he was tracking seemed to shift course, coming directly for him. Sinnertwin was prepared for battle. What came at him, however, was not what he expected. It was Cybertronian--one that looked to be no bigger than a typical protoform. And it latched itself around one of the Terrorcon's robot canine necks, though not in any aggressive manner. That, however, mattered little to the Terrorcon. Sinnertwin had enough trouble containing his violent tendencies around his own kin. Resisting that temptation with something that did not even wear a Decepticon badge? Impossible.

Sinnertwin flung the smaller Cybertronian off of him. Without allowing the younger mech a chance to recover, Sinnertwin was on top of him, his jagged, metallic claws pressing down in to the mech's chest plate.

"You are not Decepticon. Not at all. Tell me....why should its spark continue to flicker? Why? Tell me now."

Wheelie was suddenly thrown from the neck of Sinnertwin with a jolt. His face changed from a look of joy to a look of horror when he lurched from his standing position. Suddenly a paw came from the creature and pressed down his chest, claws digging into his chest slightly.

"What is a Decepticon?" Wheelie said, curious of this new word, "Wheelie also doesn't want to be fed upon!"

Wheelie reached for his slingshot and quickly dispensed a Fire Stone inside and held it by his side, concealed by some grass. If he was more than threatened, there would be a painful future for Sinnertwin.

Cipher felt a shiver run through his entire frame at the thought of one, or all of the Terrorcons turning on them once they finally arrived at their destination. The scientist’s attention was broken from his thoughts of dismemberment by Terrorcon when Mindwipe answered his query concerning Rippersnapper in particular.

Cipher nodded slowly at the hypnotist’s assessment. If need be he would most assuredly run for his life. At the sight of Hun-Grrr Cipher moved to the side along with Mindwipe, grabbed the rest of the supplies and equipment and finally made his way out of the dropship. The synthetic covering seemed to be working the way it should- his sensors indicated a considerable decrease in the radiation absorbed by his own body. A small, awkward smile crossed his visage.

With the considerable radiation that was present on this planet would hinder the entire team’s movement if they decided to fly to their destination. The small smile that had formed on Cipher’s face faded into a deep frown as he took in the scenery before him. Unusual plants filled his view, overhead the strange winged creatures circled; thankfully Cutthroat saw fit to take them out.

“This is going to be a long trek. I had hoped that we would be able to fly to our end point," he mumbled.

His attention moved from Cutthroat to that of the western perimeter where Sinnertwin who not far from the landing sight. Cipher took in a deep intake and prepared to turn to find Mindwpie when his sensors indicated the presence of another cybertronian in the vicinity. The scientist nearly dropped his burden. Who else could be on this planet? No one told us that there were other sentient life forms here?

After a moment of fear and then quiet contemplation a realization occurred to him. This being, who could be an abandoned Autobot, could be their team’s best chance at finding what they were looking for. Quickly Cipher looked to Hun-Grrr who had just ordered his team to enter the CR chamber in order to have them encase themselves in their own synthetic skins. Cipher trotted back up the ramp to stand in front of the Terrorcon Commander.

"Hun-Grrr! There’s a perimeter breach at Sinnertwin’s location! You need to order your subordinate to stand down! Whoever or whatever he’s come across could benefit our endeavor."

He paused a moment before he calmed himself and continued to explain his reasoning.

“The radiation surrounding this planet is causing havoc with our compass data. Navigating blindly, or even using the stars, would be impossible. From our location they are not even visible. Not to mention the ion storms and the clouds that are holding the ion charges, and flying will be neigh impossible."

Cipher brought his right hand to his head rubbing gently and using his left hand to emphasize his explanation, he continued to speak to the Terrorcon.

“This person, at least I’m guessing it’s a person, has obviously been here for some time. If we could convince him to guide us to our destination our travel time could be cut significantly. Besides, we know where we need to go, but we have no clue as to what lies between here and our intended destination."

A wide smile crossed his lips as he thought of one other aspect the Commander would enjoy hearing.

“And once we’re done with him you can utilize his energon for your own purposes and then feed him to the rest of your team."

The call came to Cutthroat from Hun-Grr but it was not answered. The murderous Decepticon's mind was fully focused on slaughter. The birds before him lost any significance beyond they insulting him by still being alive. The powerful winds of the planet quickly carried both the birds and their tormentor further away from the drop ship.

Encased in energon radiation resistant synthetic flesh, Hun-Grrr stepped out of the dropship while Blot lumbered his way into the CR chamber. While the Terrorcon commander didn't really care whether his men took the protective casing for themselves or not, it was better to take the precaution when it came to his most loyal subordinate. Quite frankly, the thought of Blot becoming even duller was simply unacceptable.

"I took Rippernapper's olfactory sensors offline." Hun-Grrr smirked at Mindwipe, "In theory. You should be safe."

Having addressed the concerns of the two scientists, Hun-Grrr began gauging the radiation levels he was subjected to. He was satisfied enough with the protection the synthetic flesh offered him. However, the coating had been modeled for his creature mode and thus there were gaps in its protection in his robot form. A quick transformation into his alternate mode proved his initial assumption true. In his creature mode of an Algean two-headed razor beast - the synthetic flesh covered his massive form completely, leaving no gaps, nor allowing any radiation to affect him. And even Hun-Grrr had to admit that the process had left his monstrous creature mode even more imposing than it had been previously.

While Hun-Grrr was still admiring his new fearsome outlook, one of the more science oriented Decepticons they had been sent to protect interrupted him. And the way he was interrupted was brought forth as more of an order than a request. It was a mistake Cipher would not repeat. Both of Hun-Grrr's dragonic heads, each almost size of the smaller Decepticon - lowered themselves to face Cipher optic to optic, their maws dropping synthesized drool. If the scientist wanted to speak to him, he would have to address Hun-Grrr as his superior. The promise of letting him to devour Sinnertwin's found later did not help Cipher's position at all.

"Neverrr again scrrribe." One of Hun-Grrr's heads snarled while the other made a threatening snap of its jaws just inches from Cipher's face. "Neverrr trrry to orrrderrr Hun-Grrr again."

Threatening Cipher in such way didn't really have anything to do with what the scientist had said. The original Terrorcon just enjoyed terrorizing others. Particularly those who were so weak willed that they could be intimidated through such minor provocations. That aside, the scientist had been right. The atmosphere was charged with ions. It was only matter of astroseconds before Cutthroat would learn it the hard way and suffer a system blackout that was going to drop him from the skies. The Semper Tyrannis was also unable to provide them gps data due to the very same reason they could not use stars for navigation. Even Cipher's claim about compass data was something Hun-Grrr was able to verify himself. If Sinnertwin had encountered a sentient lifeform - they were going to exploit it. Anyone who had lived here for a longer period of time had to know how to navigate this area - the very survival of such being depended on that.

"In theory" they should be safe. In theory were the words that Hungrr had chosen. Those words had caused the Decepticon hypnotist to cringe just a little more, internally, as he walked over to the chamber that the large Terrorcon had exited and proceeded to upload the data on the form that he had chosen. There were some impressive chiropterans inhabiting this world. It had made for a fairly easy decision. Even his alt-mode was roughly based on such creatures. He had been inspired by their design ever since he had seen images of them.

"Join you soon," Mindwipe said as he brought his optics offline and the chamber doors closed around him. ___

Western Perimeter

"What is a Decepticon? Wheelie also doesn't want to be fed upon!" the creature had spoken.

"It speaks in riddles and in rhyme, little knowing it has no time," Sinnertwin chided, much as he had with Mindwipe earlier, mimicking his prey's vocal style and relishing the scent of fresh metallic compounds. How sweet they would taste. How easily this one would come apart.

"We are Decepticons. You are not. That is all that..."

One of Sinnertwin's heads lifted in to the air again, sniffing, as a communique from their leader came in. This time it was to him directly. To disobey such a direct command would be to invite oblivion.

Just as quickly as Sinnertwin had pounced on top of the smaller mech, he transformed back in to his bot mode and hauled the little proto to his feet.

"It will come with me," Sinnertwin said, pushing Wheelie forward. "Run...and I make no promises that it will see the hungry one in one piece."

Cipher physically relaxed at the mention of Rippersnapper’s olfactory sensors being taken off line. It was a relief to know that not only he, but Mindwipe, would be spared the terrorist’s unyielding ire for organic scents. A forced smile grew on the scientist’s face as he hoisted the container holding some of his equipment and made to advance forward when was suddenly stopped. Hun-Grrr lowered both of his alt mode’s heads only coming optic to optic with Cipher. Promptly the smaller Decepticon dropped the container and backed off several steps for fear of being devoured by the Terrorcon Commander.

His body began to shake almost uncontrollably as both heads spoke in unison. Cipher’s optics grew wide with dread at the sound coming from both mouths – which were lined with razor sharp teeth and dripping with a synthesized droool. The shiver that ran down Cipher’s spinal structure caused him to only respond with a high pitched squeak followed by a vigorous nod.

After his command, Hun-Grrr emphasized his words with a hideous snap of his jaws directly in the scientist’s face. The action had Cipher hurriedly jump back; losing his balance he fell backwards landing on his back, prostrate nearly underneath the lumbering giant. As quickly as could he scrambled to back to his feet and swiftly moved even further away from the menacing beast.

As if on cue Rippersnapper came out of the tree lined perimeter rubbing firmly at the back of his head. The pain from Hun-Grrr’s blow was still causing a slight ringing in his audial receptors. He cast his commander a heated glare before he even realized that he was covered in a disgusting organic shell. A sneer grew on the terrorist’s face as he raised his nose into the air and took a deep sniff. Nothing.

Rippersnapper let out a defeated sigh as he looked from the Terrorcon Commander to Cipher, who was cowering behind the hypnotist. He approached both Decepticons with purpose until he was directly in front of Mindwipe. The white and blue ‘Con then lowered his head down toward Mindwipe’s shoulder and took in a sniff at Cipher. Nothing, still. How degrading. Hun-Grrr had taken his olfactory sensors offline…again.

The ‘Con let out a dejected sigh as he made his way back to his commander.

“I suppose I’ll have to encase myself in that…that…vile coat. Humph. I was never even going to get a say, was I."

It wasn’t a question, just a sad attempt at making him feel better. Turning on his heel, Rippersnapper made his way to the computer terminal in order to choose the shroud he would be covering his pristine Cybertronian body in. How humiliating.